Education

Milwaukee County judge denies voucher funding for Harambee school

A Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge has denied a motion that could have granted voucher funding for the current school year to Harambee Community School.

The ruling means Harambee will likely continue to operate without any public funding until a final decision in Harambee's case is made in the spring or until the school formally re-enters the voucher program.

Harambee was barred from the program for the 2010-'11 school year after it failed to become accredited by the required deadline, a measure implemented when stricter regulations for voucher participation were approved in 2006. Schools that were current participants in 2006 had until Dec. 31, 2009, to become accredited.

The school argued Wednesday that because the court ruled that the state Department of Public Instruction did not adequately explain its reasoning for removing the school from the choice program, the DPI should be treating Harambee as if they are in the program and continue public funding.

Circuit Judge Timothy Dugan, however, disagreed with the request. Even though his October decision temporarily prevented the DPI from excluding Harambee from the program, it didn't mean Harambee automatically qualifies for voucher money.

Court records indicate the school owes employees more than $60,000.

Harambee, 110 W. Burleigh St., was one of the first schools to join the Milwaukee Parental Choice program, which provides public subsidies to private schools and began in the 1990-'91 school year.

Lenora Davis, Harambee's chief operations officer, referred requests for comment to her attorney. Harambee's other attorney, Robert Driscoll, said the school had not received notification of its accreditation. He said he was unaware of the school's finances but added, "It's been a trouble for the school to keep its doors open."

The Wisconsin Religious and Independent Schools Accreditation group voted Nov. 8 on whether to accredit Harambee after a site visit in October, but the organization will not release the decision to the public until the schools have been notified, said Beatrice Weiland, executive director. Schools are notified within 30 business days of the meeting, she said.

Even if Harambee received accreditation, it wouldn't be eligible for public financing until the 2011-'12 school year, based on rules of the voucher program, DPI spokesman Patrick Gasper said.

In addition, all new schools seeking to enter the program must be pre-accredited through the Institute for Transformation of Learning at Marquette University - a step added to block weak schools from entering. Any school removed from the program would be treated as a new school if it tries to re-enter, Gasper said.